


Arkham's Batman: Rise and Fall of a Legend

by JMKitsune



Category: Batman: Arkham (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-13 06:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 13,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20169343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMKitsune/pseuds/JMKitsune
Summary: a project I started back in like November/December last year, I wanted to “novelize” the batman arkham games while…tweaking the story a bit to flow better in some places (I love the series over all but there were parts I felt…needed help here and there so again, reitterating1- yes I am novelizing the Batman Arkham Games into a prose version. It's just a project I wanted to do2- I am doing so with the intent to clean up/expand on/tweak some parts in the story, those things are either small little things, others between the game related stuff, etc so some changes might not even be noticed to those who played the seriesthe format for chapters will beChristmas Eve Incident --- Chapter:Part --- Subtitlethis was how I wrote it, was easier for me to keep track of things hopefully it works for you guysI haven’t finished the project entirely, I got like 140ish pagesfigure we'll see if it goes beyond what I have done. I'll try updating it like weekly or something I dunno I'll determine the update schedule based on reception maybe?





	1. Christmas Eve Incident Part 1:1- Black Gate Riot

_The last will and testament of the deceased, Thomas Wayne: In the event of my death, I hereby declare that all my worldly possessions pass to my son, Bruce Wayne. Bruce, I ask that you **honor **the Wayne family legacy, and **commit yourself** to the improvement of Gotham City, its institutions, and its citizens. Please, be strong. You are young, but destined for great things. _ _Make the most _ _of your opportunities. Use them to _ ** _give back_ ** _ to a city that has given us so much, to _ _change the lives of millions_ _ of people. Do not be frivolous with this wealth. Please, do not waste it all on _ ** _fast cars_ ** _, and _ ** _outrageous clothes_ ** _, and the pursuit of a _ ** _destructive lifestyle_ ** _. _ ** _Invest_ ** _in Gotham. Treat its people like family. _ ** _Watch over them_ ** _ and use this money to _ _**safeguard **them from forces beyond their control_ _. My deepest regret is I will not see you grow into the _ ** _good man_ ** _ I know you will become. And finally, my son, I ask that you _ _**never abandon** this city to fate._ _ We have lived through **dark days**, and no doubt there are **more to come**. But it is the good and **great men** who **stand up** for Gotham when others turn and run. In death, I will love you forever. Your father, Thomas."_

_—**Thomas Wayne**_

_ **~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~** _

The cave was dark, damp and cold which was normal. However there was a bitter extra coldness tonight, colder than most nights, it was Christmas eve and the sun had been set for hours now, the snow outside had been falling for hours. As the elevator carrying it's occupant reached the bottom and opened its doors, a large collection of screeches and flapping echoed throughout the cavernous space. The colony of bats screamed as this person disturbed their slumber and awoken them with his large machinery. They tore through the cave, flying every which way until after a few moments descending deeper into the depths of the cave far from sight and sound. Only echoes of their cries and flapping remained for a short time. The occupant stepped out of the elevator with purpose, a stern and almost rage filled expression on his face. The height of his persona felt increased only by the shadow he cast as he strut through the tunnels towards a much larger, open cave filled with lights and equipment. The far side of the cave was a large waterfall, pouring down and blocking an opening in and out of the system that this man had made his base of operations. The large space was filled with computers and machinery on one floor; and in the center, a platform with a black as night flying craft.

The body suit on the man covered him from neck to toe. Made of a tight weave that protected his body from the cold that filled the cave and the outside as well, he also wore heavy armored boots. This man stood 6'0 and was built sturdy. Not massive but stocky enough that you knew he could throw a punch, though outside this dark cave he never gave the impression of that. An angry man, he never seemed to do anything about his anger in public. He couldn't, he had an image to maintain.

Bruce Wayne made his way to the series of monitors and computers, patching into the local news stations and the Police radio bandwidth. As the different frequencies and channels came into focus one monitor displayed News crews attending a press conference at Black Gate Penitentiary. A decorated officer on the screen at the podium was heard mid speech.

"...knowing tonight, we put to rest one of Gotham's most heinous and relentless killers of our time- Julian Gregory Day."

One of the reporters in the crowd spoke next to the assessment.

"Commissioner Loeb!, Commissioner Loeb – any comment on rumors circulating that it wasn't actually the GCPD who found, apprehended and delivered Mr. Day to custody?" He asked, his voice a little evident of the cold weather over at Blackgate, but strong and convicted in this line of questioning none the less. At this the Commissioner left the podium and a man in his early to mid thirties stepping up to replace him, his glasses fogging a bit from the temperature, the man had auburn hair and signs of facial hair forming on his face. He wore a GCPD jacket over a Policeman's uniform and bullet proof vest, he must have been on assignment before arriving or he felt better to prepare for anything tonight at Blackgate.

"There is no such thing as a bat-man!" Captain James Gordon spat in response to the question. His hand pointing to enunciate each syllable for the crowd. Which of course got a buzz from the reporters. All of them shouting Captain Gordon, over and over trying to garner his attention to ask follow up questions. Camera flashes created a strobe effect on the screen as Bruce half paid attention while looking over at another screen and filtering the sound to that monitor instead of the news.

"All Units, all units, Code 10 at Blackgate Prison! Communication is Down. Possible 2-11." A woman's voice filtered through on the Police Scanner. Behind Bruce, an older man, dressed in a nicely pressed tuxedo, carrying a dome covered silver dinner tray quietly entered the cave and watched and listened to the sight before him as he made his way to a table where he softly lay the dinner tray carefully next to a brass framed photo. A black and white family photo of a slightly middle aged man, his beautiful wife and young son. The three looked happy, and the young boy's smile was ear to ear, teeth shining on his face and a sense of prosperity came from the photo as it reflected off the surface of the tray next to it. The older man gazed for a half second at the photo before returning his attention to his master. Alfred Pennyworth, never too thrilled with Bruce's decisions to take up this crusade, gave his undying support regardless because he had served this family for as long as he had. Raising Master Wayne since his parents' death Alfred couldn't help but wonder what the late Thomas and Martha would think of their boy tonight.

Gone was that smiling happy boy, and replaced by a hurt and angry young man. At 28 time had barely tempered his scars. Only inflamed them. Taking a multi year journey around the world, learning many forms of Asian martial arts. Bruce would travel to China, Japan, Thailand, eventually winding up in Korea. In North Korea he found a secret Korean castle, where he would meet the Martial arts Master: Kirigi. The master would take Bruce in as a servant while he trained with his other students in TokagureRyu and other Shinobi.

Knowing an art similar to Japanese Ninjutsu, Kirigi trained Bruce in the ways of the shadow warrior. Learning how to use the shadows, devoting himself to a single ideal and in that devotion learn patience, develop agility, master deception, partake in theatrics and utilize the power to fight 600 men. But most of all Kirigi instructed Wayne in the method of using fear. Two years ago Bruce had returned from this trip and filled in Alfred of his success under Kirigi and how this meant he could begin his crusade to save Gotham. It was then he took up the cowl as Batman.

"Delta 6-4 Enroute" a mans voice broke Alfred's concentration on those memories, reminding him that Master Wayne needed him in the now, tonight was a sordid one. Being Christmas Eve, Alfred had hoped that Bruce would stay in tonight, be a normal billionaire playboy for the cameras on Christmas, however for another year, he shooed away reporters wanting interviews with the young rich industrialist and instead took up his only focus- the mission.

"Dispatch 5-9. Confirm code 10- this a break out?" Another man came through the radio.

"Suspect identified as Black Mask. Repeat: Code 10 suspect is Black Mask. All Units at Blackgate. Code 6 Code 6. Commissioner Loeb being held captive. Repeat. Commissioner is 701." The woman's voice repeated with urgency. On one of the monitors in front of Bruce a file had opened and revealed many pictures of a man in a white pinstriped suit wearing a black skull mask, all with information filtering in along with the photos. Bruce had collected as much information on this man as he could. Black Mask- the alias for a one Roman Sionis. Alfred's gaze followed as Bruce crossed the space from his computers to a spot on the platform they stood on as it raised from the floor, a glass case with metal framing. Inside spun something Alfred had grown accustomed to seeing, and sometimes repairing when Master Wayne was too overzealous on his night's out. The tailored suit of the vigilante. The mantle Bruce claimed after returning home from his trip abroad. The mask he wore to enact his mission to save and protect Gotham, his home.

The Batsuit was black and gray, an armored and caped body armor he could wear to hide his face and protect himself from the scourge of Gotham's dark underbelly. Bulletproof, knife-proof, however the suit did lack in some flexibility leaving Bruce forced to have stiffer movements and have to be deliberate in his actions. For now it suited him well, protected him and struck fear in those who saw it before he beat them into unconsciousness. Designed to withstand or significantly reduce the impact of bullets, the armor up til this point has allowed Batman to barely flinch when shot, causing a psychological strike in those attacking him, fearing that the urban myth that was batman- was impervious to bullets.

Suiting up, and going from the public figure of Bruce Wayne to the legend that was spreading in the city. The enigmatic shadow that struck out and launched a violent onslaught on those who would dare commit crimes in the city. Someone who was the reason thugs collective breathed sighs of relief upon the rising of the sun each morning. Batman. Gathering his equipment as well, a grappling hook gun, a collection of shuriken that were in the shape of bats, and other assorted equipment donned his large belt at his waist. When he was fully equipped with his gadgets and ready to go, he slowly reached back into the container where his suit was housed to lift the cowl and bring it to his face. Sliding it down and over Bruce Wayne's profile snuffing him out for the night. Awakening the other- the Batman to his next patrol. The night had begun and Batman was needed.

The large craft in the center of the cave roared to life as Batman pressed a series of keys on one of his gauntlets. Lifting itself from the ground with loud engines the VTOL hovered in wait for it's pilot to embark them in their starry night flight across the Gotham skyline. Batman marched towards it, his cape billowing behind him wildly as the engine's caused a powerful draft from their force. Batman could just barely make out Alfred's voice behind him.

"You do realize it is Christmas Eve, sir?" The butler called, his arms out and making a hopeful gesture that he could assuage the Bat into taking the night off. However this hope dashed as Batman climbed into the control seat of the jet and rose into the craft, doing last moment system checks of his vehicle. Alfred resigned his hopes and made his way across the platforms to retrieve the dinner tray he had originally came down to the cave with. Knowing he'd better leave it upstairs in the kitchen so that if Master Wayne returned hungry he could heat up his dinner. Alfred Pennyworth would die on the spot the day he served anyone a cold Christmas Eve dinner.

The Batwing rose higher in the cave, it's wings folding down, extending to their full length in readiness to exit it's lair, Batman inside gripped the controls tightly and focused his vision on the horizon line as the Batwing faced the waterfall and screamed out of the cave at an intense high speed. The waterfall barely breaking under the Batwing's trespassing on it's path downward. Batman piloted his craft at top speed to reach Blackgate as soon as possible.


	2. The Christmas Eve Incident Part 1:2 Blackgate Riot

Arriving at Blackgate at breakneck speed, the Batwing circled around the perimeter before Batman jettisoned himself from the cockpit, the Batwing continuing on it's route on auto-pilot while the Bat himself dove face first towards the prison below, his body tense as the wind howled up to meet him, snow all around this windy night. Blackgate was a large penitentiary built in the Gotham bay. The cold breeze from the Atlantic would make the prison chilly on most nights, but in the winter it was a special kind of cold that got you right to the bone. Batman didn't have time however to notice the cold, once he got close to the higher towers in the prison, his arms flew out causing the cape to go rigid behind him, allowing him to glide to safety at one of the lower levels of the prison, gracefully touching down in one of the yards, the Caped Crusader rose from his perch to his feet and examined the surroundings.

"Looks like Black Mask entered the Prison here." He muttered to himself. Directly ahead was a section of wall to the main cell block building torn apart. Literally. Whatever destroyed the wall to allow Black Mask into the building, it was capable of destruction Batman wasn't expecting. "I need to find Commissioner Loeb- before it's too late." He added crouching under the destroyed beams and concrete into the Western Wing. Thankfully the entrance made for him led to a stairwell down into the wing, would save him time he believed.

"He said he'd leave my family alone if I did what he asked!" Cried out a man not too far ahead.

"I hope he keeps his word, I really do. Thing is, you ain't gonna live to find out. Sorry Warden. Black Mask can't leave no loose ends lyin around." replied another voice. Apparently Black Mask had no problem with his followers killing the security and staff. Including the Warden himself. Rushing towards the sound of the voices, Batman crawled under another hole in the walls to find Warden Joseph backing towards a wall ahead of him, a masked suited mobster swinging a baseball bat hard into his head knocking the man down. The bat struck the side of his face near his eyepatch, knocking the Warden clean to the ground before he could prepare to defend himself.

"Oh I'll kill ya all right. But by the time I do, that eye be the only thing you'remissin'." The batter threatened.

"Wh—what is that, b-behind you!" Warden Joseph sputters, steadying himself against the wall nearest him, the mobster standing over him ready to strike again, completely unaware of what approached silently.

"Oh, camaaaan. 'spect me to fall for that? I mean, try somethin' bit original, you --" the mobster stopped as Batman's shadow reached the wall and towered over the masked batter. Spinning to see the Bat, and howling in fear, he swung the bat hard, and tried to take out the newcomer. However Batman caught the bat easily with one hand, holding it still while his other hand came down splintering the wooden weapon then returned to grab the mobster by the neck, lifting him off the ground. Batman walked the masked villain towards the wall. Standing next to Warden Joseph and slamming the mobster to the wall, glaring at him silently this whole time. After a second against the wall, Batman threw the man down to the floor and ensured he was unconscious before turning to the Warden, who was attempting to avoid being seen scampering away.

"No! S-st-stay away!" He screamed, fumbling around and finding an iron pipe that had fallen from the wall, reaching to attempt to strike like the mobster before him did, Batman only caught it and threw it to the floor, before putting the Warden to his knees. "Don't hurt me!" he shouted. Batman released him and let him return to the wall to hide. "I heard the rumors but...You...you're not supposed to be real."

"Who tore this place apart?" Batman finally spoke. His voice deeper than Bruce Wayne's normally jovial and personable voice. The fear returned to the warden, not knowing why this question mattered but none the less he quickly started to answer, but before he could- a loud roar came from behind them, from behind a sealed door.

"I don't know what he is, but he's huge!"

"Where is Black Mask!?"

"I- I don't know. He's here for Commissioner Loeb. Maybe one of his men knows where he's headed."

Batman left the warden into the next section of the prison. Once inside he found the prisoners in their cells throwing things out of their cells, shouting, waving and otherwise being a complete mess causing problem, thankfully they were still in their cells. Batman could take them if they weren't, but he had a mission, and side tracking for these low lives would not make the mission easier. Descending a set of stairs to a lower level, corpses of security and mobsters were all over the place.

"These are Black Mask's men alright. I'll make any I find tell me where I can find him." Batman growled before opening an iron bar doorway, spotting two thugs ahead of him, trying to open some of the security guards gun chests on the wall.

"It's- It's the BAT!" One shouts to the other, causing them both to fumble to retrieve the guns. However Batman is already on one before he can do anything, throwing a punch so hard he flies back into the wall and collapses, hitting a button releasing four inmates from their cells as he rushes the other mobster who finally retrieved one of the rifles from the security gun station. As Batman subdued him as well, throwing the gun away, the four inmates rush Batman, threatening to stab and skin him alive. However sure enough, they're quickly dispatched by a few punches, and kicks, falling as unconscious as everyone else who challenges Batman.

Slowly stepping towards the remaining mobster who wasn't out cold, the caped crusader planted his heavy boot on the man's head.

"Where. Is. Black Mask?"

"How the hell should I know?"

"I'm going to make you talk. How much pain you endure before that, is in your hands." Batman snarled. Pressing a little harder with his foot, the mask cracking slightly under the pressure.

"Screw. You."

"I don't have time for this." The mask cracking more and more, the mobster's face feeling shards of the cracks digging into his face.

"Ok. Ok! He's heading to the execution chamber- with Loeb."

"Smart move, now you get to take a nap." Batman quipped, lifting his foot and stomping hard on the thug, knocking him out.


	3. The Christmas Eve Incident Part 1:3 Blackgate Riot

A noise came from ahead, following cautiously, Batman progressed hopefully towards Black Mask and Commissioner Loeb. The source of the noise came whirling down the corridor ahead of him, stopping at the intersection, a drone floated a few meters above the ground. Its four propellers pushing down air to suspend it, sending dust and light debris from the surrounding walls into the air. A camera mounted to the front of it guided it forward.

"A drone. That doesn't belong here. Who is controlling it though?" Batman thought to himself, it wasn't even like Blackgate owned or used drones in their prison, it had no labels or distinguishing marks. It sped off down the corridor, gone before Batman could come around the corner to follow it. He reached halfway down the long hallway before shattering of glass could be heard above him. Apparently the drone had escaped through the skylight above. Shards dropping down in front of him littering the ground with their sharp edges. Shortly after the cells along Batman's right flank all flew open, the path ahead was shut as well. Someone was trying to stall him. Inmates burst out of their cells and screamed as they tried to intimidate the detective.

"Crap! It's--" one shouted but was cut off by Batman's fist colliding with his jaw. The others charged him hoping numbers would assist their attack. It didn't, each fell one by one, either by directly being attacked by the Bat, or when they attempted to strike, the large stoic man delivered a devastating counter, dropping them to the floor outside their cells.

"The only way out, it seems, is to grapple up and over the gate, need to hurry though." Batman mused as he followed through over the gate using his grappling hook to pull him into a space just large enough for him to crawl through, over the gate that had hindered him, and down the rest of the hall towards the door to the next area. On the other side, a Mobster was standing over another man, cowering on the floor, the victim looked injured, probably beaten nearly unconscious- barely holding on to himself.

"If you take Black Mask's money, you do what he says. You give him lip, instead, this is what happens." The mobster explains, holding a bat in his hands hitting it against his hand. Before the Bat can leap into save the other, a loud roar emits from above and ahead, his gaze shifting from the two in front of him; a large, silhouette of a creature stood just above them. The creature haunched forward and grabbed something in it's jaw, whipping it from one side to another before it tossed a person down from it's perch, too far to tell if the person was dead, Batman presumed as such only because why would Black Mask's men start leaving people alive now, everyone else they'd come across was dead or damn near close. The creature wiped its maw with an arm before setting through the door ahead of it. Disappearing to who knows where.

"But...but he's crazy!" the guard, who was being threatened previously finally sputtered.

"See, it's talk like that what got you in this mess in the first place." The Mobster pivoted and noticed Batman approaching, startled he barely even saw the guard rush to his feet and run towards one of his fallen brothers. Batman continuing his approach silently with one hand reached into his belt and drew his grappling gun, aiming it quick as a high noon duel, fired, grappling the mobster's torso and yanking him hard towards the Dark Knight. Within seconds the man tumbled forward, reaching Batman, but instead of the hero stepping aside or anything, he threw a fist hard, right in the gut, making target groan as he fell to the floor before Batman knocked him out as well, couldn't leave any awake when he left, they'd only be a problem later.

"This one is wearing body armor, knocking him off balance with my cape or using the grappling hook should do the trick if I encounter more of these types. They must have raided the armory or came prepared. Or both." He summarized.

Continuing on through the prison he encountered a heavy metal doorway, a locked one. Covered in claw marks. Probably from that creature from earlier. The claws were not that deep in the metal but they were deep enough to leave their lasting impression. Quickly throwing two batarangs at two emergency release buttons above the door, the Dark Knight succeeded in opening the door, well part way. The door was open enough for him to slide through, so rushing the door and dropping to a body slide tackle, he slid under the door and right into one of the guards on the other side, fighting off five mobsters on his own was child's play at this point, each trying to ambush him each failing as his countered, blocked and threw them to the ground. A mobster tried to run but was knocked down by his friend as Batman hurled him across the room. In a cell next to him once he was finished, Batman noticed reporters, locked inside the cell. They looked fine on a quick glance, not staying around to chat he walked ahead, barely hearing as one of them exclaimed.

"Is that him? It's really- it really is him! Are we safe in here?!" She wonders to the others who try to silence her, fearing that she would aggravate the vigilante and provoke him to attack them too.

As he progressed through the prison he finally reached a room that was a dead end. But he could hear his targets, knowing there was a floor below but knowing also that it would take too much time to backtrack and find a stairwell, the detective, reached into his belt and pulled out a spray canister, drawing a bat symbol on the floor with it, a puddy like substance stuck to the floor. Stepping back a few feet, he pressed a button on the side of the spray, causing the spray to explode destroying the floor and opening up a path below. Dropping down quickly he could tell not only was he not heard, but he was getting closer to his prey. He landed in the viewing room above the cell block below, A large glass window before him gave a perfect view to the room below. Alarms going off still as he approached made it hard to hear perfectly, but he strained his hearing to try anyway.

Below, a large group of inmates dressed in their orange jumpsuits surrounded that creature as he beat on a guard. But walking around the group, dressed in a fine white pinstripe suit, one that was so clean and unaffected by the destruction all around him, the kind of fine suit that meant it cost more than it was worth. It's owner wore it as a statement, not fashion. He also wore a skull mask encasing his entire face. Black Mask paced, and sanctimoniously preached as the larger behemoth beat a guard.

"They say crime doesn't pay – but someone oughtta check the good police commissioner's pockets – cause they're LINED with MY money." Black Mask proudly asserts while pulling the Commissioner towards him, staring him in the face for a moment and then tossing him towards the creature before him. The large scaly claw gripped Loeb's shoulder and held tight, digging into him slightly. "And what do I got to show for it? My own men in the slammer?! Not no more. No. Tonight – we're making some changes" Black Mask continues posturing while moving closer and closer to Loeb. The scaly monster turned Loeb with its hand and led him down the block towards a doorway and through it, while the inmates cheered Black Mask's statements. "Some big changes." Black Mask says quietly as Loeb and the monster disappear behind the doorway.

Batman looked to his left and saw a vent he could rip open and travel through to try catching up with the three he saw leave the block, hoping that it would lead him where he needed to go, he tightly fit into the small cramped metal vent and hoofed it on, listening for Black Mask's voice or the Commissioner's. It didn't take long to leave the noisy cell block behind, after a moment of quiet, relatively quiet given the circumstances, a voice did reach him. It was a gloating tone from the one and only.

"Ooooo, part of me just wants to flip that switch. But it is Christmas Eve... and he is the Calaendar Man -" he gloats, laughing a bit. "...and that's just too perfect – to ignore." Batman stopped and looks out one of the vent grates near him to see two of Black Mask's mobsters and Black Mask himself in a large room, it has to be the execution room. For a large chamber was nearest Black Mask and that had to be where the victim would be placed to be killed. Down the other end of the room, a large mirror, probably hiding the viewing room, a two way mirror so that the victims' families can watch an execution without needing to be seen by the inmates before they die. "You're going to owe me for this Julian. And that could be... useful." Black Mask continued, Batman didn't wait to watch, he continued down the vent to find a better vantage point to stop Black Mask before he killed the Commissioner.

"Uh – sir – what do we do about Loeb?" One of the mobsters nearest Batman's position asked.

"Bring him in, bring him in!" Black Mask replied, his sadistic tone showing a hint of glee, like a child ready to open his one gift on Christmas eve. Batman finally dropped down into the viewing room, getting a view of everyone before him, knowing safely he couldn't be seen. Ahead of him, Black Mask was flanked by a group of his men, and entering the room Loeb, dragged by the creature, dropping him to the floor as Loeb scrambled to his feet he sputtered at Black Mask.

"W-wh-what's all this about, Sionis? Haven't I always come through for you?!" Loeb pleaded.

"You may have, Gillian. But things have – changed. We're starting with a clean slate – and you're not on it." Sionis replied coolly, the man originally marked to die was let out of the execution chamber. A large portly man, bald and vacant in his expression, didn't make much of a peep as he exited and took in his surroundings. Tattooed around his crown were JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEPT, OCT, NOV, DEC. Calendar man truly took his name to heart. Batman watched waiting for the right moment to do something, unsure what was going to unfold just yet.

"What are you talking about!? I'm not on it? After all I've done for you..." Loeb shouted as two mobsters took him from the monster and ushered him, albeit he did try to resist, into the chamber. Slamming the heavy metal door closed on the Commissioner, the two mobsters laughed as Loeb tried to stop the door from closing to no avail. "You can't do this! I'm the Police Commissioner, dammit!"

By this point, Batman began to punch, slam, and throw his body into the glass dividing him from rescuing Loeb, his entire being placed into each attack on the divider. Green spray began to fill the chamber as Loeb was being executed, Black Mask turning to look only for a moment before walking way.

"Show's over, boys. Let's go." He ordered, walking to leave the room, victorious in his mission. The creature followed as well but not before slamming one of the mobsters hard into the chest, throwing them into the glass between them and Batman. Spiderwebbing the glass as the creature exited the room. Having finally gotten a better look through the glass, Batman was able to determine that the creature was Waylon Jones, A.K.A Killer Croc. Looking at the cracks in the glass in front of him, Batman smirked, knowing that was what he needed, he walked to the back of the room, shook his body loose and prepared himself for what had to happen next. Rushing full speed ahead, he leaped up and smashed the glass. Breaking it from the frame as he rolled into the empty room, rushing to the chamber, only to find he was too late.

"Commissioner Loeb is dead, Black Mask is going to answer for this!" He growled, looking to the door Sionis left through. He'd have to hurry, taking too long would mean Black Mask and the others would escape and be gone until who knows when. Returning to a spot he had traveled down when he entered, he spotted a destroyed drone on the floor, it possibly was the drone from earlier, crouching down to examine it, he could hear above him two voices.

"I told you to grab the memory card!"

"You wanted it smashed. I smashed." Killer Croc's reptilian voice snarled back at Black Mask's angry outburst.

"It had better be smashed, or the next thing to get smashed will be your face!" Sionis snaps back. Killer Croc only snarled. Batman, finishing his examination found said memory card to his delight, retrieving it and noting slight damage to it, but not so much that he couldn't retrieve the data back at the Batcave, he placed it securely in his belt and grappled up towards the exit, in pursuit of Jones and Sionis. Reaching the top floor, he spotted a ladder that led to the roof, before having time to wonder if that was where they went, a sound of helicopters could be heard. Nothing like answering his own question before he asked. The Dark Knight rushed up the ladder to stop Black Mask once and for all.

Black Mask, followed by two of his men crossed the roof towards the landed chopper and climbed in, the snow falling then being blown every which way by the propellers above. Once inside, it didn't wait long to take off, slowly lifting off the roof Black Mask successfully began his escape from his attack on Blackgate. Once his helicopter had taken off completely, another landed to take it's place to grab the remaining two men and Croc, who each approached the craft slowly as it landed. Jones however stopped half way, lowering his torso and head for a moment, sniffing at the air, his maw snarling a bit as he inhaled a scent. Waving the chopper away, Jones watched it take off leaving him behind. Batman glided down from above and landed behind Croc in the snow, watching as the monster circled around the roof and began to face his adversary.

"Thought I caught your scent." He snarled finally facing the Dark Knight.

"I know I caught yours." Batman replied, causing Jones to rip a large propane tank clean off the ground it was mounted to and hurled it towards the Caped hero, who barely had time to drop low to avoid being hit. It exploded behind him against a wall, sending flames everywhere. Waylon didn't waste time in charging Batman, but being stopped as Batman dodged and started hitting Croc quickly in the torso hoping to slow the beast, that is until Jones grabbed and tried to bite the Masked Vigilante. Breaking free only to repeat a tired process of trying to beat down Killer Croc, Batman realized this was gonna be a battle of attrition, Croc was not gonna be stopped, not until he was slowed. The cold. That was the key, Killer Croc only wearing a pair of pants and his torso exposed had to be making the man freezing tonight. Gotham was cold normally during the winter but Blackgate was in the bay, the cold was amplified by the sea breeze tearing up the island with every gust. If Killer Croc was reptilian than Batman would take advantage of cold blood. The two continued their brawl on the roof, trading blows. Every now and again, Killer Croc bull rushing Batman, either missing as the Dark Knight dodged at the last second or successfully tackling and grappling the man in the attempt to eat the Dark Knight's head clean off it's shoulders. This continued on, the entire time, Batman knowing he had to wrap this up, the longer Croc stalled him, the further and further away Black Mask was, and the colder that trail would get. He couldn't waste all night on this one overgrown enforcer.

"Time to take you seriously!" Croc shouts over the howling winds, picking up another propane tank, however Batman was ready this time. Throwing a series of batarangs hard, the shuriken hit the tank, causing it to explode in Croc's hands, sending the monster flying back into a tall iron fence that surrounded the building's roof, breaking it from the rest of it's frame, bending backwards and suspending Croc over the high fall to the wild waves below. Croc tried to move but found his right arm was stuck bewteen the bars of the fence, as he reached with his other hand to free himself, Batman sprung into action, leaping onto his torso and holding down the freed hand with his heavy boot.

"Your boss! Where is he going!?" Batman shouted. Punching Croc hard enough to push the creature back hard into the fence he lay on, to emphasize the question.

"Only boss a'me, is me." Jones spat back. Showcasing his teeth as he made sounds between breathing. Batman back handing him for the response and punching him hard again.

"You want teeth. I want answers!" Batman barks. Each punch causing the fence to buckle a little under the combined weight and force of the strikes. Croc began to loose focus, trying to stay awake under the pummeling force of each hit. He looked down and noticed below- he wouldn't survive that fall, though he wouldn't want Batman to know it.

"Wait till Black Mask'sassassin's get through with you!" He snarled through a bleeding maw at Batman, a disturbing smile creeping onto his face.

"What assassins!?" Batman demands. Another punch, another shake of the fence holding them up.

"Whoever wins is gonna be famous AND rich." Killer Croc declares, laughing through the pain inflicted upon him as Batman grows ever more frustrated. Another punch finally putting Jones out cold as Batman stands on top of the beaten creature.

"At least I know, he won't be ugly." He declares before dragging Jones off the fence and back onto the roof to safety. Just as he does the fence falls from the roof.

"Freeze!" Jim Gordon's voice calls out, Batman turns, blinded at first by the bright lights on his face, raising his arm to shield his eyes, he barely makes out four Police officers training their guns on him. "Hold it right there! We're taking you in!" Batman quickly hits a button on his gauntlet and slowly backs towards the ledge near Croc's head, Gordon watches and slowly steps forward in half steps.

"Not tonight." Batman replies and falls back into a dive before spreading his cape and gliding away into the darkness. Gordon and the fellow GCPD officers rushing to the ledge, trying to find Batman but only finding the waves below and the rocks that awaited anyone who fell. After a moment a loud noise came to life as the Batwing rose with the Dark Knight straddling its hull, walking towards the open cockpit, he entered it and closed the viewport as the ship rose higher into the night's sky, the GCPD simply watching dumbfounded by the sight. As it tore away, Gordon and Harvey Bullock holstered their weapons defeated in that war but successful in apprehending Waylon Jones.

"No such thing as a Batman, huh?" Bullock snarks to Gordon's silence.


	4. The Christmas Eve Incident Part 2:1 Assassins

The Batwing arrives back in the batcave, engines roaring but slowly softening as the ship lands back on it's platform. Batman dives out and walks towards the bat computer. Alfred standing at attention waiting as Batman crosses the platforms and passing him simply turns to speak.

"Are you back for the night, sir?" He asks, genuine in his inquiry. "Shall I warm up the Christmas dinner?"

"No. It's gonna be a long night Alfred. I just..." Batman stopped near his ally and contemplated his next words. "I just ran into a human shaped crocodile who told me Black Mask has hired Assassins to kill me tonight." He explained before continuing his trek to the computer. Activating it and inserting the broken memory card he stole from the drone, the computer boots up and begins to analyze the card. The screens showing progress, fragments of the contents as well as other information from the city, including news reports of the attack on the prison just earlier from the reporters who were there.

Vicki Vale was currently the main focus on one of the screens. She was commenting on how her and other reporters at the Prison were locked up by the Mobsters and had witnessed an attack on them by the Batman Vigilante. Batman ignored this report as his waiting for the memory card reached nearly complete. Alfred stood patiently at the other's side watching the screen as well.

"Assassins, sir? As in, more than one?" He inquired, his voice showing little worry in tone but it was also a tone that Bruce Wayne knew came from the older man when his concern wasn't that he couldn't do something, he was just worried like a father would be.

"That's right."

"And you heard this, from – I'm sorry if I misheard you earlier it could have been the batwing affecting my ears - from a Crocodile Man?"

As he asked, Batman keyed in some information onto the computer and one of the screens lit up with images of Killer Croc, detailed profiling reports and records of his exploits in Gotham, including footage of him fighting with Police over the years. The gruesome ferocity behind Waylon Jones' actions startled Alfred, Batman however remained nonphased.

"His name, is Killer Croc. Originally Waylon Jones. Born with a rare form of atavism, imparting him with Reptilian traits, he was raised by an aunt, an abusive alcoholic whom he eventually killed and became a criminal in the city after. Now he works for Black Mask. Thankfully after tonight, Croc is behind bars."

Alfred continued to watch the screens while Batman regaled the short history lesson.

"My word.... I pity his cell mate."

"I don't" Batman replied, the memory card finishing it's repair and download to the computer, the Dark Knight accessed the files and watched as everything started to boot to life from the card. "Now, let's see what's on this hard drive that Black Mask hoped was beyond fixing."

A recording of Black Mask meeting with his men in a small barely lit room flickered on. Behind him was a cork board with images of different people's mugshots, Killer Croc's included, as well as different blueprints of buildings, maps of Gotham and scribbled notes all over the board.

"Each of them get one of these here envelopes." Black Mask instructs to one of his henchmen, pointing to a stack of black folders beside him on a table. "I need them hand delivered – tonight!" The henchmen each grab an envelope and nod. Understanding their orders."

"They're all hired killers, seems best of the best. Black Mask isn't messing around it seems. Even made it a competition, first to kill me gets big cash reward." Batman explains, as he does the first assassin appears on one of the other monitors. A masked and armored figure, the mask half black and half orange, with only one eye slot to see out of. The figure carried a side arm at his hip, sword and collapsible staff on his back and looked ready for war.

"Slade Wilson. A.K.A Deathstroke. Former military," Batman explains, a security camera footage began loading of Wilson beating a group of GCPD with only a staff while they helplessly fired their guns missing every shot. After he had finished with them, and after a few minutes of cleaning his staff before returning it to his back, one of Black Masks' goons arrived, handing him the envelope which after taking and shooing the henchman away- opens and reads while leaving the building. "He was the subject of a failed medical experiment."

"Failed, you say?" Alfred sarcastically pointed out. Batman only continues the memory cards files, finding another video file, and report. Causing him to repeat the process as before, finding info on each assassin.

"Garfeild Lynns. a.k.a Firefly." A profile of the man appears. Showcasing the costumed figure, jetpack strapped to his person, flamethrower in hand, mask obscuring face. "Burns on 90% of his body. Third degree at that. His obsession will be his end."

"How unlike anyone I know..." Alfred replies sarcastically.

"This is a face I don't recognize." Batman sounded uncertain and puzzled. Images of two men labeled Copperhead appear, each being crossed out. "Copperhead. Strange though, these reports all reference a male, never a woman." The profiles finally pull a woman's mugshot bringing up a recording from a police interview room where a young woman handcuffed to a chair listened as the cop talked to her.

"Fourteen escapes, huh?" The cop turns around a scratches his cheek "Well, you won't be gettin' outta-" He turns around a sees that Copperhead is gone, the cuffs on the table, not broken forcibly. "What the-?" He cautiously looks around before the recording cuts to Copperhead having her legs wrapped around his neck. "HELP! H-" Copperhead snaps his neck before noticing an envelope on the ground near the door. She leaps off the dead cop and reads it while licking at a metal claw on her hand.

"Floyd Lawton. A.K.A Deadshot." Batman indicates. A recording of Deadshot is pulled up, the sniper stationed on a building rooftop staring down the scope of his rifle. "Says here, he's the best expert sharpshooter in the world." The recording pans back to reveal a group of cops approaching from behind, carefully surrounding the man before announcing their presence. With a single cry of FREEZE. The Police suspect they have their target. Ready to apprehend and take him in. However, from Deadshot who only jerks around, and firing a single shot from his wrist mounted cannon. The bullet escapes and ricocheting off the walls killing every single cop in that one shot.

"How on Earth -?" Alfred wonders.

"Suspected the cause of many assassinations world wide, rarely takes credit publicly. He is deadly. But reckless." Batman concludes. "Next we have a street tough named Lester Buchinsky. Calls himself the Electrocutioner." Batman says, with little enthusiasm, more disappointment. The video brought up of Lester showcased him simply killing the Black Mask Henchmen who delivered the message and envelope after they had gave it to him.

"How shocking." Alfred said, in a similar disappointed tone.

"Now we come to Shiva. Her skills are unmatched." Batman says. His tone shifting back to impressed but this time laced with utmost respect, a lacing Alfred felt best to not question at the moment. The video recording is from a CCTV camera in the city, a group of men gathered around a single woman, however as they attempt to assault her, she not only defends herself, but kills every single one of them flawlessly, after which she fixes her jacket which became a bit unsnug for her in the cold. From behind a tree, one of the henchmen ran to her, cautiously handing her the envelope and then fleeing quickly in fear. The CCTV camera was in the proper angle for Batman to zoom in and read the contents.

"ONE NIGHT TO KILL THE BAT! PAYMENT FOR THIS HIT IS $50,000,000!"

The final assassin comes up on display. Both Batman and Alfred share a moment of shock. The video was of a large masked man brutally beating up to equally large men at the same time. Each of the two trying but failing to land any strikes on him.

"Bane? Here? In Gotham?" Batman asks. The recording showing Bane snapping the necks of the two men at the same time before he received his envelope, which after looking at throws away and walks off. "Since when and why would he be taking money as a hired killer?" Batman wonders aloud.

Now that each assassin had been revealed, Batman continued to the next files on the drive, bringing up another video, this one recorded on a cellphone. Why it was stored on this drive probably the fault of a henchman who wasn't thinking about what would happen if someone took the card. The video showed Black Mask, Warden Joseph and some of Black Mask's men in what would appear to be Joseph's home.

"Is that, Warden Joseph sir?" Alfred asks.

"Mmm-hmm. Seems this must be how Sionis got into the prison tonight. Reports indicate that Roman loves to use torture for intimidation... as much as he loves it for entertainment." The video revealed two goons holding the Warden on his knees, while another lights a cigarette and hands it to Sionis, who after taking it looks at it for a moment then struts towards the Warden. Crouching over Joseph, Black Mask prepares to gouge his eye out with it. Explaining how Joseph lost his eye.

"8 assassins, after your head sir. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to find out who was operating this drone, make them talk to me about what they know, Then I'm going to find Black Mask. Putting an end to all of this."

"Sir, if I may be bold, and I know I may be stating the obvious here. But you do realize since only you and myself are the two only men who know the true identity of the Batman, those Assassins will fail in their mandate if you simply stay home the rest of the evening."

"They'll put innocents in danger to attract my attention Alfred. I can't take that risk."

"And you think that it's better an idea to just put yourself in their cross hairs all night?"

Batman ignores Alfred's question while analyzing the blueprints of the drone Killer Croc had destroyed in the prison.

"There is only one person in Gotham who could get his hands on something like this drone Alfred. The Penguin. He's been tracking Black Mask. According to the drone's on-board GPS, its next way point was a rendezvous with The Penguin, at Jezebel Plaza. I'll make him talk."

"Are you sure this is a wise course of action, sir?"

"I know what I'm doing."

"Well, in case you change your mind and want to train tonight instead, I'll keep your training facility active. The batwing is prepped and ready for you to go to Jezebel Plaza, sir." Batman doesn't respond, instead he leaves the computer and marches towards the Batwing, hoping into the batwing and taking off, setting his coordinates for Jezebel Plaza.


	5. The Christmas Eve Incident Part 2:2 Assassins

Soaring the Gotham skyline in the Batwing, the computer display started picking up and alerting Batman to some anomaly and disturbance in the city.

"Alfred, I've got-" Batman says.

"I'm tracking it to sir. It appears that your control towers you use for your auto-nav systems in the Batwing are now putting out some sort of jamming signal." Alfred replies over the comms.

"Storm damage, would you think?" Batman asks, changing course towards the nearest to one nearest him.

"You'll have to go down there and see for yourself, sir."

"Already on it, close to one now." He replies flying over one of the many bridges in Gotham before circling a building and dropping from the Batwing to land on the roof of a GCR tower building. Finding a nearby window, he smashes it in to investigate further. The GCR was a popular radio station in the city. They had towers scattered through out the city so that anywhere in Gotham you could hear the station clearly. Inside the building was multiple rooms filled with radio and sound equipment as well as technical equipment for broadcasting multiple frequencies, servers were stored in rooms to backlog all broadcasts as well as calls into the station. It was a full set up for an otherwise smaller building.

"I swear, we're the only ones here! Look, Gotham Optics gets a call from an automated system if the towers act up, right? So, they send a guy over, but he never shows. Probably at home for the night, lazy bastard...Anyway- when he doesn't show they just send us. Nothing special or secret plans here, fellas. We're just doing our jobs!" A hostage tries to explain in the distance. Batman covers ground towards the sound of the voice and constantly has his head on a swivel, looking around for the possibility of anyone else in the building.

"And we're doin ours. See- we've been hired to make sure no one touches the tower."

"You want us to leave? No problem! Just let us go, and I promise it'll be like none of this ever happened!" The hostage pleads more for his life and the lives of those who were with him. Batman discovers that the noise is behind the door nearest him, opening it and letting the light behind him pour in, the hallway bellow is bathed in that light but more so- his shadow is cast down on the three mobsters with their guns trained on a hostage.

"What – the? Grab the hostages!" One shots as another rushes down the hall and grips one of the hostages planting his gun to the other's head and waiting, hoping that his human shield would protect him "Y-you seein this?!" The third mobster sputters.

"What the hell is it!?" The first shouts, stepping back to be out of the shadow on the floor, trying to see who it was that was making it.

"Keep back or I'll shoot! I mean it!" the third shouts bringing up his pistol and shaking hands tries to aim it up at Batman. "I'll pull this trigger! I ain'tplayin." He adds.

Batman only watches for a moment. Under his cape, one hand dips into his belt and draws out smoke pellets, so that he can conceal his movements. Releasing them in front of him before the stairs, the explosion of thick smoke obscured himself as he grappled up to hang onto a vantage point above the mobsters. Leaping from one portion of the higher ceiling to another, Batman reached the mobster in the back holding the hostage at gun point. Dropping down by the grappling hook, and grabbing the mobster, he brought him high towards the ceiling and dropped him fast, a rope catching his ankle and dangling him from the ceiling as the Dark Knight moved on to deal with the other two staring at where the smoke was obscuring their target. Taking them down was easy, swinging in from above, landing behind and smashing their heads together causing them to fall to the ground. The hostage- now hiding in the corner, shivering in both fear and cold, ignored Batman until he moved on to the next part of the building.

This continued for the rest of the exploration of the building, mobsters, armed with guns but little sense holding human shields until Batman exploited their fear and took them out. Each hostage freed he told to retreat back the way he came to group up with their co-workers and after a few minutes they were to escape when everyone was gathered. This resulted in the final hostage begging and pleading that he can fix the tower if that was what batman wanted. The hero only explained he wanted the man to get to safety and get the others out before moving on.

"Alfred, I don't think the tower's malfunction is from storm damage. I'm setting up a crime scene to figure out what happened." Batman says once he enters the final area of the tower.

"Why is that sir?"

"Well there is a corpse, a destroyed wall and I imagine the two are related and not part of the normal décor." Batman replies, stepping over the debris from the broken wall and examining the body on the floor. "I'm starting by identifying the vitctim." Using the HUD in his cowl to scan fingerprints of the victim, and relay the data to the Batcave and then back with results in real time Batman learned the identify quickly.

"Victim name- David Shannon. Gotham Optics Employee. Sent to repair faulty network tower. Cause of death: will scan the rest of the room to find out." Batman notes, looking up and seeing a splatter of blood on the wall, he examines the pattern. "Impact on the wall indicates hard trauma, seems an explosion sent this man to his demise after colliding with the now destroyed wall, and stopping hard with his head on this wall behind it. Origins for the explosion seem to be that access panel across from him. I'm getting the impression for this to have happened about 1114 joules of energy caused the impact." Batman continued noting, Leaving the corpse and moving to the terminal itself, the cowl began to scan for evidence.

"Sir, I'm curious, if the terminal explosion is what killed him, how is it that the terminal wall isn't as destroyed as the one our new friend was thrown into is?" Alfred asks.

"Good question Alfred, we'll have to hope the terminal gives us anything to work with." Batman notes. "Alright Alfred, my guess, the panel here was rigged to detonate when swiped with a keycard. Someone didn't want this door opened or the tower repaired. I'm getting a pair of fingerprints near the panel though, so whomever they are, they might have been sloppy enough to leave me their prints for the purposes of finding them. Alfred can you scan those prints and find out if anything comes back?"

After a short period of waiting, time spent for Batman to be checking the terminal for any more intel and clues, Alfred's voice came into his ear.

"Alright sir, prints belong to a one John F. Baker. He's rather an unremarkable criminal. Small jobs, mostly. Only...That's curious."

"Alfred?" Batman inquires.

"Sir, Mister Baker's dead." Alfred explains. "His body was recovered from the Diamond District only under an hour ago."

"Looks like someone is not leaving loose ends. Thank you Alfred." Batman summarizes. Taking out a device from his belt and aiming it at the terminal, the tiny screen on the device indicates that it requires access codes to function with the temrinal. Operating on a closed network, the terminal was closed to Bamtan's Cryptographic Sequencer. The device allowed Batman to bypass security consoles, track signals and listen in on radio broadcasts. The device resembled a mini computer, and by using his thumbs Batman could scroll through security sequences until he unlocked whatever was barring his path. Needing those access codes meant finding the security card the victim had swiped to get in the door originally, odds were it wasn't destroyed in the explosion, he probably had his hand fully down from the swipe by the time the bomb went off. So looking around the room, Batman noticed a vent duct on the wall just behind where the victim would have been standing. Bending over to glance inside- and of course a slightly scorched but relatively intact security card rested inside, meaning removing the grate and fetching it. No problem for the Dark Knight. Once retrieved and scanned, the Cryptographic Sequencer was able to interface with the terminal.

Accessing the next room and finding the ladder that led to the part of the tower he needed, Batman cautiously approached the room and opened the heavy metal door prepared for anything. Servers, a few terminals and power cables running all through the small 3x3 room, finding the main terminal was simple enough and Batman went right to work, hacking the machine to try correcting everything so that he could use the Batwing's auto-nav once more.

"Alfred, contact the GCPD, inform them about the body of Shannon, also inform them that the hostages are on the ground floor together, all perps have been left for them."

"I take it that you have found your disturbance source, Sir?"

"I think so." Batman replies breaking into the terminal finally.

"Well well. If it it isn't the King Thug himself. Figured it was only a matter of time before you showed up. Sorry about any mess downstairs." A sarcastic voice droned, the screen filtering an eerie green light and a man dressed in a white shirt, black sweater vest and wearing glasses, sadly the darkness in the room obscured much of his features to prevent any identification visually. The source of the video was unknown, nor was it able to be determined if live or pre-recorded.

"Who is this?" Batman asked, hoping for a live response.

"You can think of me as a great big mystery! One you're never going to solve." The voice replied, the arrogance dripping from it irritating the Dark Knight. Whoever this man was, they were pretty confident in their position yet obviously had no problem with hiding behind a screen and sending others to do their heavy duty work to avoid taking part.

"So you're an Enigma then." Batman replied.

"Oh ho ho. You must think you're so clever. Well how's this for clever. I've taken control of all the radio towers in Gotham. As long as they are active and broadcasting at all, your Batwing is useless. And it looks like it's gonna stay that way. I mean, this one's practically BEGGING to be taken offline and you still. Cant. Hack it." Enigma replied, the smugness in his voice officially pushing a button, causing Batman to clench his jaw and his nostrils to flair a bit. "Pun intended of course." Enigma added chuckling. The video feed cut and replacing it was the screen with scrolling letters and symbols vertically and three words need to be filled for the password. Nine letters in all. Batman stared at the screen and after a minute of thinking, started keying in letters using his Cryptographic Sequencer.

"N-O F-L-Y Z-O-N-E"

The video feed came right back replacing everything else. Enigma's silhouette shaking it's head and tsking at Batman.

"Hmmm... Black Mask is not going to like this."

"What are you talking about Enigma?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Enigma snarked. Cutting the feed again. The tower no longer under his control and back the way it should be. Batman closed the connection and left the room heading back to the roof to return to the Batwing.

"It seems you've regained control of the Tower Master Bruce. I take it you'd like the Batwing to return you on your trip to Jezebel Plaza?" Alfred asks in the comms unit. Batman had just taken his steps back outside into the snow, looking around he made sure nothing was out of place. Right on schedule two cruisers were barreling down the nearest street responding to the call Alfred had just made as per his request.

"That's the plan. Then again though...I've also got a lead on that Enigma. His feed gave a faint back trace to a location in the city."

"Don't over think too much Master Bruce. We both know well enough you'll eventually wind up doing both tasks regardless." Alfred says. The Batwing lowers itself enough to allow Batman to hop in and take off back on his way, the cops watching the craft scream by overhead as they enter the building searching for those that they were called to deal with.

"I do hope you'll keep a low profile tonight, Sir."

"Don't worry Alfred, I'll take out each Assassin before they know what hit them."

"I don't mean that, I am referring to if any little children wake and look out their window to the pitter patter of reindeer, they hope to see Santa Claus tonight. Not some black clad Bat creature in the sky."

"I don't patter Alfred." Batman growls. Only to which Alfred sighs.


	6. The Christmas Eve Incident Part 2:3 Assassins

Jezebel Plaza, was a four way intersection shopping center, located in Bowery of Gotham. The center was lined with storefronts and for the holidays decorated with lights wreaths and all the trappings of a truly colorful Christmas, the center of the intersection stood a statue of a woman overlooking all who traveled her streets. Tonight, Batman had to arrive and stop an arms deal for the Penguin that would allow him to collect intel on the Drone he saw in Blackgate. The deal would be going down at 2100/9PM, thankfully it was only 5 of the hour, giving Batman plenty of time to set up his stake out and watch, waiting for his targets.

Perching atop a building's vantage point, well to him a vantage point, to everyone else- a looming Gargoyle, Batman watched the giant clock above the Center turn to 9 PM, chiming the hour with the bell above it being hammered by two mechanical steel workers with their giant hammers.

"Penguin. Not a dime in this city changes hands that he can't tell you about. If anyone knows where Black Mask and his assassins are- it's him. But Penguin's hard to find." He monologues. Looming forward and watching below, something started to happen. Men started arriving and filling the Plaza. They weren't late shoppers hoping for that last minute, forgot til now, gift. These were the people he waited for. Raising himself into a full standing position and glaring down below, Batman continued to watch and wait for the right time to drop in.

"Guys!" Loose Lips, the arms dealer Batman watched, shouted as a group of men approached the center of the plaza. Loose Lips was sitting in a large chair- for the santa portrayals during the day to ask little children for their wishes that holiday. Dressed in a large coat, a penguin silhouette spray painted on the front and another on the back, and a Santa hat, Loose Lips looked festive, for a crook. "So, little boys – what do you want for Christmas?" Oh wait!" He said, playing his best Santa act. "I already know." Nodding knowingly and waving his hand to the men he brought with him. Each bringing forward large containers forward to sit on either side of Loose Lips in his giant chair.

Opening the first container revealed a disassembled long range rifle, scope and barrel attachments. The weapon was top of the line gear, something that no street thug should have, it was combat tier, front lines military hardware. Without even examining the weapon, one of the buyers tossed a briefcase to Loose Lips without even saying a word.

"Now, let's see if you three have been naught or..." He said, opening the case, upon opening it, the little light illuminated the contents and brought a smile to his face. "Oh ho ho ho ho ho, Nice!"

Back above this, Batman watched and prepared to act.

"Punk in the Santa Hat must be in charge." He observed.

"Where are the rest of the order?" The buyer asked after assembling the rifle and staring down the scope and examining it fully finally.

"Easy now, Tiger. When you with us, you're dealing with the Penguin. This ain't some fly-by-night operation like someone else who works this time of year." This was Loose Lips' final confident word, because Batman had swooped down, his cape gliding him to the ground as he landed hard in the snow behind everyone, the noise making everyone turn to look and their faces go from normal to fear stricken.

"I-I told yous he was real!" one of the buyers shouts falling into the snow as he backed away, Loose Lips notions to the men he brought with him to deal with the Batman as did the buyer holding the rifle, all the goons gather to try surrounding him, but Batman acts first, breaking through the people at full speed and tackling the gun holding thug, throwing him down, breaking the rifle from his grip then snapping it in half as he punches the goon square in the face. The group turn and attack as one, but Batman takes them all on, flipping them, over them and punching, kicking otherwise thrashing each one as they came. One by one the mobsters fell. Till the only one who remained- was Loose Lips himself. Batman's back was on him as he lay in the snow, holding up an arm showing he surrendered.

"Don't...please don't. Whatever you'regoin to do – don't." He begged.

Batman quickly turned and threw his boot down onto Loose Lips' head, pushing the side of it into the snow. Looking down silently at him for a moment before reaching down and picking him up one handed, lifting him off the ground and hurtling him into the large chair that he was using just a minute ago as a throne. Following him was his briefcase, hitting his stomach hard surprising him and leaving him unprepared for Batman to swing a kick hard into him, throwing him and the chair flying backwards, the money flying everywhere out of the briefcase.

"Get away! Please! N-NO!!!!!" Loose Lips screamed from where he landed, watching the Dark Knight rush him, leap in the air and drop down covering him in the cape before lifting him up by the throat, slamming him to a wall and interrogating him.

"Where. Is. Penguin." Batman snarled like an animal.

"I don't know." Loose Lips croaked out.

"Where is he?!" Batman asked again, not believing the first answer.

"I swear!" Loose Lips tries to say before passing out in Batman's hand. The vigilante cursing under his breath.

"Wake up!" Batman's voice came, echoing, as if from far way. Loose Lips slowly, struggling at first, came too, waking up, and his vision returning. First thing to greet him, the giant tree in the center of Jezebel Plaza, the one that was next to the chair he was in earlier. But that wasn't right, how was it below him, he wondered. Then a Santa hat fell by his eyes, his own head growing cold, it dawned on him. It was his hat.

"What...what happened?" He asked. Struggling to look around, his hands dangling in front of his face, swinging his head and torso to look around, his mind took in the giant clock that stood above the plaza, and that seemed odd, so he kept following up towards whatever was holding him. Looking directly up, staring back at him, one hand holding his ankle tightly, was Batman. The sight scared Loose Lips and made him start to struggle, wildly flailing his free leg and hands.

"It's time to talk." Batman calmly stated. "Where is Cobblepot?"

"Let me go!" Loose Lips bellowed.

"If you insist." Batman coolly replied, releasing the other's ankle, letting the man fall. As he fell, he never noticed the cable holding him, as he reached halfway down the clock face, the cable went taught and he collided with the said clock. His head ringing. Then something else rang. His phone.

Batman heard it too, his expression changing from anger to surprise, he quickly yanked the cable, pulling Loose Lips back to him. As he rose the man began to beg again.

Please, please I'll tell you anything. Stop, stop. I'll talk. Please!" He pleaded. As he did, the Dark Knight reached into the coat and pulled Loose Lips' phone out, looking at the lock screen, the new message causing the alert to ring wasn't much.

"Cobblepot: Has the deal gone down yet?"

"Too Late." Batman said, keeping the phone. "I already have what I need." He added before letting go of the cable and letting Loose Lips fall towards the tree below. As he slammed into it and continued to fall to the ground below, Batman placed the phone on his belt and retrieved the cable, placing it back on his belt too.

"You're crazy! You know that! You're crazy!" Loose Lips, weakly could be heard yelling from the ground under the tree.

Finding himself another rooftop to perch for the moment, Batman took out his Cryptographic Sequencer to insert the sim card from Loose Lips' phone.

"Now hopefully with this, I can locate Penguin." He mutters, however the Sequencer's screen was getting static feedback instead of showing a clear screen that he wanted. "Alfred, something is up with the comms. Is this on your end?"

"Nor sir, I'm seeing it as well. It must be coming from that nearby GCR tower, it appears to be the same signal jamming the Batwing's auto-nav-systems."

"I'll have to shut down that signal I guess, if I want to track down the Penguin."

Finding the tower, and dispatching of the goons hired to protect it was no problem, as he opened the door to the terminals, his comms were broken into by Enigma.

"You know, if you asked me nicely, I'd of opened it for you." Batman ignored the irritating pest and set about hacking the terminal to return it's signal to broadcast normally and stop jamming his equipment.

"K-E-E-P O-U-T" He entered, unlocking everything and resetting the signal, removing Enigma's influence.

"Congratulations are in order! It seems that maybe you're not as stupid as I've been led to believe." Enigma's voice cuts in again as the screen reveals another video feed of Enigma at his desk, working away at something.

"Why are you doing this Enigma?" Batman inquires.

"Direct! I like it." Enigma replies, sounding genuine for once. But that quickly soured as he went on. "So I'll tell you. Gotham's sullied. It's filled with brutes who control this city through violence and intimidation.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Because you didn't let me finish!" Enigma barks. Clearing his throat and trying to compose himself before continuing. "I want to get rid of them, Batman. To improve Gotham's intellectual and moral standing. But I'm not a thug like you. My approach is a bit more, refined."

"What you're doing is no different than stealing. There is nothing refined about it!"

"Your response is as predictable as it is banal. Goodbye." Enigma laughs, cutting the feed.

Returning to the outside of the building and taking out the Sequencer, Batman uses the sim card to track Penguin finally. Not impeded by Enigma's petty games. Using the Sequencer, the SIM card was read and detailed the signal strength correlating to the location the last number sent the text from, the coordinates overlapping a map of the city. After a few moments the frequency was tracked and brought up. Hacking in and listening to the communications between Penguin's men became available now thanks to that SIM card.

"Alfred, I'm reading the signal from Penguin's men – but it's not associated with any known wireless frequency."

"Ah yes, I'm seeing it here as well. Looks like Penguin runs his own private wireless network. Using laptop transmitters serving as ad hoc com stations. He's feeding his men frequencies via two way radio. There are two of these com stations near your position -"

"Good mark them for me, I'll take those walkie talkies and triangulate Penguin's position.


	7. The Christmas Eve Incident Part 3:1 Black Mask Murdered?

Deathstroke and Batman stood facing off in the pit, each one sizing up their opponent. Batman's regaining his wits after the assassin got the drop on him, how he was that careless was beyond him. He knew better, you should never have your back to the door like that, it was a rookie mistake. He let his emotions get in the way, he wasn't supposed to do that. No matter, he had to focus on Slade now. Of all the assassins, Wilson was one of the few that actually posed a threat, due to his track record and experience over Batman. Tossing the sword he took from Slade to the ground, Batman begins circling the man, who in return draws another straight sword from his back and follows Batman's example in circling. The two moved like wild dogs ready to tear each other limb from limb.

"It appears the game is over before it even begins." Slade muses, pointing the blade directly at Batman's throat.

"I'm not playing games, Slade." Batman replies. Wilson returns his sword to his back but grabs his staff instead, spinning it before dropping into a guard and readying himself for the fight, Batman clenches both fists and shakes himself up to prepare for the throwdown.

'A Bat. Why I wonder, a Bat?" Wilson wonders. Batman quickly fires his grappling gun at the staff, catching it and pulling Wilson towards him, on the way, Batman gets a few good hits in before Wilson retreats and launches a few attacks himself, each one countered by the Dark Knight, the two become a series of blows, grunts and blocks. The movements of the two mirrored each other, almost as if they had fought each other years and years, but what was really the case was that in their time knowing the other existed, each warrior had studied the other, learning tells, preparing for feints, expecting what they were going up against.

"Seems you're not such a pushover after all!" Slade shouts, dropping a smoke pellet causing Batman to back off a bit, allowing Slade the time to climb the pit and launch himself high to do a high dropping strike with his staff, Batman though caught it in time, side stepping just enough to grab the staff and pull Slade into his own trap, the Knight begins pummeling Deathstroke's armor, hit after hit landing on the dazed assassin, finally a punch collides with Wilson'shelmet. Sending it flying to the ground and cracking it. The graying hair on the man underneath surprised Batman. His one eye showed anger at losing his mask as his teeth clenched and jaw tightened. Batman noted the eyepatch on his right eye, hopefully a blind spot Slade hadn't trained to compensate for.

Before getting his wits back, Batman took the opportunity and rushed Wilson, grabbing the staff as it came up to protect him, pulling back on it, throwing Wilson across the pit, but keeping the staff in his hands, Batman rose to his feet and snapped the metal pole in two. A surprised but impressed sound emanated from Wilson as he rose to his feet. Pulling his sword back out and flourishing it be approached again to engage once more.

The two's battle resumed for a bit, each swing of Deathstroke's sword met with a counter, roll, dodge and retaliation from Batman, and every strike from Batman was met with a defensive flurry of moves by Slade. They were truly evenly matched. Slade noted how amusing it was that someone so experienced and someone so obviously new to this game were holding this well. It surprised him but in a good way. Smoke pellets exploded in front of Batman's face once again and Slade had vanished, this time attacking from directly in front not above like last time. The sword ready to plunge deep into Batman's chest. Quickly assessing this, Batman catches the blade between his palms, holding it tightly and feeling the tension behind Slade's attempt to cut through the man. Pushing back the attack and then kicking hard, Batman sends Slade into the Pits nearest walls.

"It's over Slade." He declares. The other's sword still in his grip.

"What – are you?" Slade asks panting, recovering from the bout. Batman takes the sword and throws it hard, the blade passing inches from Slade's face and impaling in the wall next to him only an inch or so from the hilt. As he turned to examine the throw, Slade quickly glanced back in time to see Batman's fist collide with his face, causing him to slam his head into the wall and pass out before hitting the floor.

"Nice seein' ya Batman." Penguin's voice calls up from his office area of the arena. Batman glances up to see Candy at his side, posing like a model for her boss. "Feel free to let yourself out." He adds before turning to leave, smacking Candy's ass playfully as the two walk off, Tracey at the door to his office waiting patiently. Somehow she got out of her cell.

"I can't let Penguin get away. There is more I need to ask him." Batman mutters, taking Slade's Remote Claw, the item he had used to get the drop on Batman. It functioned like a grappling gun but allowed him to remotely make suspended wires to hang from if need be to cross over large gaps he couldn't swing from.

Using the new tool to make his way up to Penguin's office once more, Batman refused to let this time be a repeat of before. He needed and wanted answers, he was going to get them. However once he reached the door to Penguin's office, the door was barred, not even budging.

"You'll have more luck getting into a nun's skivvies than getting into this room. Go on, then. Beat it a bit harder. Really make me feel it Batman." Penguin's voice came over a loudspeaker. "As you can see I got me 'ands full. 'ave a Merry Christmas, and piss off." Penguin adds before the loudspeaker cuts out.

Resigning himself, for now, Batman left the Boiler Deck and began to contact Alfred.

"Alfred, I need you to see if you can find any information about a murder at Lacey Towers." He states, a pause before Alfred's voice returned with a response.

"Looks like the Police are on the scene now, Sir. Oh this is interesting, They're saying Black Mask is the victim."

"Black Mask dead? I'm on my way there now." Batman replies, his voice revealing all his surprise as he hurries faster out of the ship. He had to rush to Lacey Towers. Once outside and back into the cold, Batman remembered this time to not repeat his last mistake.

"Alfred, get GCPD to take a look at the Final Offer – moored at Dixon Docks. They'll find Slade Wilson tied up and waiting for them inside – along with some of Penguin's illegally obtained weapon supply."

"Another anonymous tip? Will do sir." Alfred replies.


End file.
